PSYCH257 Lecture Notes - Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Psychopathology, Epigenome

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCH257
• Professor: Allison Kelly

Document Summary

Environmental stress interacts with genetics to predict mental disorders. Predisposing (childhood) and precipitating (currently happening) stress interacts with genetic vulnerability which later develops into a psychological disorder. Environmental stress mediates the effect of genetics on psychopathology. The personality that you grew up with leads to stressful situations which can lead to psychological disorders. In a stressful situation that triggers genetic vulnerability. The genome does the work, the epigenome decides which genes get expressed. Genes are turned on/off by cellular material outside of the genome. Environmental factors influence epigenome (passed down to the next generation) When soldiers go to war, not all develop. This is because some do not have a genetic predisposition toward. Soldiers with a lesser genetic vulnerability can experience the same event without developing ptsd. Being shy, less likely to be around lots of people, leads to developing a psychological disorder.